FINDING THE RIGHT PARTNER FOR USMLE

It’s common for medical students to work in group while preparing for their tests, having someone to share the experience and keep you on the right track can be a great aid for your preparation, especially when tests are so extensive and studying becomes a lifestyle,

Even when our recommendation for studying theoretical subjects is to get used to study without a partner since someday along your career you will have to learn to study alone, it could wait if you feel you work better with a partner by your side, not changing too much your habits can help increase your results and of course having a study partner becomes necessary to practice and master the physical exam for clinical skills, doing a neurologic exam in less than 5 mins. needs practice after all.

If you are looking for a study partner it’s important to have some details in mind before accepting someone in your study group:

-Study schedule:  Not everyone has the same study schedule as much as there are morning persons and night owls, find someone who shares your schedule or the one you are trying to get used to.

-Type of learner:  Not all types of learners will work well together. Are you a thinker and need quiet time to process things or are you the type to do quick  flash cards, read aloud type, having a noisy partner when you are trying to concentrate could be holding your learning, be sure to find someone who understands you and has the same type of learning.

-Study habits:  some people’s habits while studying can prove to be really distracting, for example chewing gum, listening to music, texting, phone, games etc. if your selected partner has some distracting habits be sure to let them know beforehand.

-Shared goals:  to have a partner that understands you, he/she should have the same core goals as you have, if you’re aiming for a top class you should study with someone who has the same motivation and drive.

-Doesn’t criticize you:  Choose someone who won't cut you down if you answer incorrectly, and won't get mad at you if you're 1 minute late, it’s important to find someone to help you maintain your motivation and enthusiasm. 

Having a study partner is like all ohter human relations some work others don’t, if you feel someone is keeping you from achieving a great score, you can change your study partners; here are some reasons to change your study partners:

Is distracting:  if someone is distracting you all the time, maybe it’s not the type of partner you are looking for.

Gets lousy grades:  someone that gets low scores will probably teach you all their bad habits.

Is unmotivated:   someone who is lacking motivation will get you down, be sure to stay away from people that thinks they are going to fail all the time.

Is unprepared:  if you find yourself having to explain even the most basic concepts all the time maybe it’s time to find someone else.

Criticizes you:  if someone constantly keeps telling you why you are going to fail, or the reasons why you don’t have what it takes, maybe it’s time to let them go into the world and find someone better in the process.

Hopefully these ideas will help you find a great partner for your exams, if you have other experiences and ideas, please share them with us in the comments, 

 Please remember to visit us at www.usmleprepguide.com to find our latest USMLE tutoring guides, 

Studying HIGH YIELD Contents in USMLE

While preparing for each USMLE exam, many courses offer high yield contents that are commonly used in questions although not in the same way, you have to keep in mind that each question for a step is not repeated and will not repeat itself since the exam is made to be different along the year and for all students.

So if questions are so different about the same content, it is in the way you study these contents that the difference should be made, to prepare using high yield facts is more than just reading them or memorizing questions, you have to really understand these concepts, be able to explain them, know them by heart and even memorize diagrams for cycles and mechanisms, many examples come to mind when talking about high yield like membrane cell transporters, ETC, crebs cycle, thyroid function etc. 

When studying a high yield fact you should know everything about it, not just be able to explain it but also know the drugs that act on it, uncoupplers, exceptions, this also includes formulas, diagrams, frequently used images, structures etc.

A common mistake is to take high yield facts and memorize them by reading again and again the same line, you should be more active in your study, look it up in the book, read all about this fact, memorize it, find the odd information about it and mostly write it down in your own words, make a high yield facts card using your own information as well as the information provided by the courses you are using.

The most important part of your preparation comes by your own interest for improving what you know about a particular subject, in this line the more you investigate and discover by yourself about a subject will make you more capable to answer new questions that were not expected in your preparation courses.

Always remember that every single student that has aced or failed a particular step had almost the same information and material to study, it always comes down to the way you study and prepare not just by following a schedule or a course but actually taking an active role in your own formation, investigating, reading different sources, making your own explanations, sure it will take more time and yes sometimes this fact can  make your preparation more difficult and boring, but the important thing is to get this exam right once, and you won’t have to worry about studying again since all this information will be stuck with you for the long run.

So in short today is a perfect day to start tackling all those facts and improve your knowledge, remember that the sooner you start the better your odds will be, as always check our tutoring guides at www.usmleprepguide.com for detailed guides for every step, Our tutoring guides can help you also giving you guidance during your preparation, helping you keep track of important topics, it has a design from the most important to least asked topics and also includes tips and hints of how some topics may be asked and when you should memorize formulas, diagrams and images.

As always please leave your comments below in the comments section.

WHEN TO TAKE A STEP?

This is an important question throughout all your preparation, when to take a step, it’s important to

plan ahead of time when to schedule your exam, while deciding on the specific date here are some things to consider:

-The amount of material to cover: take a good look at the topics and  pages you will be needing to study for preparation and make a simple estimate of how long would it take you to read all that information twice.

-Study schedule: take into account the amount of hours a day you’re planning to study including weekends, also make an honest schedule don’t try to study more than you can, many students try to schedule more hours than they can handle, as a general rule more than 8 hours distributed in a day can get you confused and tired.

-Your memory:  yes, everyone is different, some students get things quickly while others like me need more time to understand and memorize information, remember that for these tests you need to commit to memory large amounts of information for long periods so the usual one nighter cramming won’t work.

-Personal Time outs: since the preparations takes so long is common to have some personal events

along the way, for example weddings, travels, birthdays, holydays etc. anything that is going to take some time off from your preparation should be considered while planning when to schedule your exams, it is almost impossible to try to review a subject in the beach or while traveling so plan accordingly.

-Add time for reviews: As a general rule more time always helps, of course there’s a limit to this rule but let’s say two weeks or a month can help you improve your weaknesses at the end, or take more practice questions, since many take a self-assessment test almost at the end this extra time can help you improve the areas where you are getting lower results.

-If you are having scores above 70% in question banks for more than 3 sessions you are ready to take the exams, also if your scores in NBME practice exams is above 200. sometimes its better to take it than to wait the ammount of material may affect your score rather than help it.

Remember that you can take an eligibility period of 3 months before actually setting the date for your exam, this is a really helpful period, let’s say you estimate to take 8 months to prepare for step 1 or step 2 ck, you should start your eligibility period at the end of those 8 months so you can get to let’s say your 7 month of study and plan the exact date knowing how much more you will be needing to study, this way you can have as much as 3 months if necessary.

Also remember that these exams have so much material to cover that you will never feel completely ready, there will always be some doubt and that’s ok, just remember to have enough study to cover all the material and do practice questions at least for 3 months before your real test date. If you feel insecure about taking a step that’s ok, we all have felt that way, there is no easy way to take these exams there’s always risk, and if you have a good score in your self-assessment test consider how much do you need to study before taking the risk.

If you have any comments please leave them in the comments section below, as always remember to visit us at www.usmleprepguide.com and take a look to our tutoring guides.

Taking Self-Assessment for USMLE

Most USMLE candidates are familiar with the NBME self-assessment exams, these exams consist of test that have similar contents as the real USMLE exams, there is one equivalent for step 1, step 2 ck and step 3. The value of taking these exams is to have an estimate of both your preparation through evaluation of your strengths and weakness and to have a score that can help you estimate an approximation of a USMLE score.

While many students opt to leave out of their preparation these exams we consider them to be a helpful tool to assess your preparation before taking a step, you should take this exams at least one month before your test date, try to take the latest version even if that means paying the fee for them there are many ways to find them online, but we recommend to take the latest test and to take notice of where you should focus the rest of that month strengthening your weak areas.

There is also another benefit from taking the self-assessment exams, that being finding similar questions on the real step, many students have commented in forums that their score was very similar to that of the self-assessment exam, and also that they found very similar questions to the ones in the real test.

So it becomes really important to take these exams before your real exam and to pay attention to the questions and topics included in them since most likely you will find similar questions although a bit more difficult in the real step.

The score reports are also important, the self-assessment exams have a conversion table to transform your results in a probable 3 digit score from the real exam, and this has a real feedback for both your preparation and your performance during the test. Also it will give you a standard performance profile to identify both your best and your worst areas, having at least a month to prepare in your deficient areas can increase your real results and improve your performance.

The longitudinal performance profile will help you find your improvements if you decide to take several versions of the exam during your preparation, many students take several tests during their preparation to have this feedback and correct their course along the way.

Our tutoring guides can help you also giving you guidance during your preparation, helping you keep track of important topics, it has a design from the most important to least asked topics and also includes tips and hints of how some topics may be asked and when you should memorize formulas, diagrams and images.

Please remember to visit us at www.usmleprepguide.com to find our latest USMLE tutoring guides, if you have comments please leave them below.